


i'll bargain with the universe (just to see you smile)

by Cxnfiscated



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (-ish at least), 1910s, Day 11: Historical, Established Relationship, Fluff, Klance AU Month 2019, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Period-Typical Racism, Protective Keith (Voltron), Slow Dancing, Smitten Keith (Voltron), don't look to closely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 12:22:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17787332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cxnfiscated/pseuds/Cxnfiscated
Summary: Keith hissed when Lance pressed the alcohol-drenched cotton against his cheek and leaned back to escape the burn. Lance huffed out an annoyed breath, gripped his chin and reeled him back in. While his eyes were blacked over with anger, his grip was almost achingly tender. Strong enough to move him but not enough to hurt, never enough to hurt.





	i'll bargain with the universe (just to see you smile)

**Author's Note:**

> Day 11: Historical

Keith hissed when Lance pressed the alcohol-drenched cotton against his cheek and leaned back to escape the burn. Lance huffed out an annoyed breath, gripped his chin and reeled him back in. While his eyes were blacked over with anger, his grip was almost achingly tender. Strong enough to move him but not enough to hurt, never enough to hurt.

“Don’t be such a baby,” Lance snapped when Keith flinched back again, “If you are strong enough to get punched, then you’re strong enough for this, now  _ hold still. _ ”

Lance dropped the cotton ball and reached for some sort of green salve he had nicked from the nurse’s offices. There was no other way he could have gotten it otherwise, they had stopped getting rations for medicine weeks ago. 

“I’m sorry we can’t go to the dance because of me.” Keith cast down his eyes as guilt settled in his chest. Lance’s grip on his cheeks tightened for the fraction on a second. 

“I’d rather you felt sorry for getting punched. I didn’t want to go to that stupid dance anyway.” 

That was a lie if Keith had ever heard one, Lance had been brimming with excitement ever since word had gotten to them that soldiers were about to pass through the town of Altea and that there would be a dance to honour them in the  _ Castle of Lions _ . He had gripped Keith’s hands and one sunshine-like smile and one  _ let’s dance together! _ later Keith had been sold on the idea as well.

 

Now he was the reason that excitement was extinguished, was the reason why it was replaced by anger.

 

“I wouldn’t let him talk about you that way:” Keith said, voice lined with determination, instead of an apology. 

_ Disgusting foreigner. _

Keith’s fist had moved before his mind realised what he was doing. His knuckles erupted in pain and the next thing he knew, his left temple was throbbing and his right cheek had made friends with the cobblestones beneath his feet.

 

He, Asian himself, had had to get used to insults. The word foreigner, formally just a descriptor, now thrown back at him laced with poison. He could deal with the yelling and the cursing and the spitting if he had to. But he wouldn’t stand by and watch Lance deal with the same.

 

“You don’t have to fight my battles for me. I can deal with that. You don’t have to go in, fists swinging and get yourself hurt in the process.” Lance’s voice softened as his fingers ghosted along the edges of the band-aids on Keith’s cheeks ─ also stolen from the hospitals because they had run out of band-aids before they ran out of medicine ─ the movement tender and coloured in the deepest shade of guilt.

 

“You shouldn’t have to.” Keith’s heart twinged at that because it was the truth. Nothing but the truth.

Lance deserved better than this, better than having to live above a dingy tavern with more drunkards than it had bottles of liquor just because his bills couldn’t cover more, deserved better than having to steal from the nurses at the hospital because Iverson conveniently ‘forgot’ them when it came to their rations. Lance deserved to have the world handed to him on a silver platter.

 

But the universe didn’t care about what he deserved. Didn’t even out scales, didn’t spread pain equally. It was unjust and unreasonable and there was nothing Keith could do against it.

 

Lance pressed a soft kiss to the furrow between his brows and then another one and another one until the frown on Keith’s face was a piece of history. “Don’t get yourself hurt fighting for things you can’t change,” He cupped Keith’s face and stepped into the space where he legs had fallen open. 

“But you’re─” Lance pressed his lips against his to muffle his protest and the world beyond the edges of his vision bled away. His mind narrowed and his focus vanished until there was only him and Lance and neither knew where one began and the other one ended.  Their moment of tenderness stretched on and on, like honey trickling down a spoon, and left them dazed and starry-eyed when they separated. Lance shot him a smile and Keith found himself answering it immediately. His heart swelled with love and his grip on Lance’s waist tightened.  

 

Keith would wrestle the stars and rage war against the sky itself. He would walk to the edge of the world and steal him the moon from the night sky. Just to see Lance smile like that again. 

“You’re worth so much more, Lance.” His whisper hung between them. But it was soon drowned out by the muffled music vibrating through the floor. Keith perked up at that, an idea already forming in his mind. He hopped off the table Lance had pushed him onto earlier and pulled Lance towards the centre of the room.

“What are you doing?” Lance asked as he stumbled behind him. When they reached the centre of their living room, empty because they didn’t own enough to fill the space, Keith gripped his hand and put the other one on his waist, just like he had imagined himself doing at the dance in the  _ Castle of Lions. _

“Well, there’s music, Lance, so what do you think I’m doing?”

 

Keith began to sway from left and right, humming along to the muffled sound of violins ringing through the floor. Lance huffed out incredulous laughter but went along.

“You don’t have to do this. I told you, I don’t really care about that dance.” Keith just dipped him instead of answering.

 

Or, at least he would have. But Lance went down way too deep and their carpet slipped beneath their feet. They didn’t exactly fall, Lance’s leg bent at a weird angle and Keith’s vice grip on his waist prevented that, but it was a close call. 

When they straightened again ─  and had gotten their hysterical wheezing back under control ─ Lance rearranged them until their roles were reversed. With him to lead and Keith to follow. 

“How about you let me lead? We both know who is the real dancer here.” Lance shot him a cocky grin and dipped him instead. But this time, he did it right. His grip didn’t falter when Keith leaned backwards and swung upwards until they were both at eye level again. Keith’s heart fluttered as he tried to get a grip on his swooning bit Lance kissed him before he even got the chance to. 

 

The music unfurled around them, building and rising, as their lips moved in tandem, caught in a dance of their own. Keith sighed as he tightened his grip around Lance’s waist. They broke the kiss but remained in each other’s space sharing the same air as they continued their lazy sway across their living room.

 

Keith’s heart swelled with content and true happiness as time stretched, ebbed and flowed alongside the music like the tides of the oceans until it finally didn’t matter anymore. He claimed this little piece of happiness for himself as if he actually had the right to claim anything. As if his claim actually held value in these times of war and darkness and despair.

Because with Lance in his arms and Lance’s heartbeat against his own, it didn’t seem impossible anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> congratulations, you made it!!
> 
> i've now given in to the desire to skip certain days,,, so we'll see how i'll go about the challenge. 
> 
> N E Ways, follow me on twitter [@cxnfiscated](https://twitter.com/cxnfiscated) and stan my baby [And Yet, The Sun Will Rise Again](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15206018/chapters/35268089)  
> Byeeee!!


End file.
